OT Potential Podcast | Occupational Therapy CEUs

The OT treatment approaches that are gaining support from evidence, seem to have one common thread between them:

The clients set their own goals. 

Today, we look at a pioneer of this client-centered process, The CO-OP Approach™. We’ll dive into a new research article where, yet again, we see CO-OP outperforming conventional therapy—this time for children with cerebral palsy and spina bifida.

After we review the article, we’re honored to welcome to the podcast the founder of this approach, Helene J. Polatajko, PhD, OT Reg(Ont). Her and I will di...

The number of children diagnosed with ADHD has been steadily increasing. Now it is estimated that 1/10 children will be diagnosed with ADHD at some point.

Even though about half of these children receive some type of behavioral treatment, there has been a lack of studies around OT-specific support for ADHDer children. 

In this one hour OT CEU course, we will look at a study of an OT program for ADHD that features: 

This program led to significant improvement in performance and satisfaction! 

Self-determination interventions are linked to positive academic and functional attainment results—and, most compellingly, can improve post-secondary outcomes. 

But what does it look like for OT professionals to foster self-determination in the school setting? 

In this one hour course, we’ll breakdown a scoping review that examines the Independence Curriculum, which is designed to enhance middle-school-aged autistic students’ self-determination. The results are improvement in: 

After we break down the article, we’re delighted to welcome the article’s lead author, Dora Onwumere. She and I will discuss the practical imp...

If you are an occupational therapy professional working with autistic people, you’ve likely heard of strengths-based practice (SBP). 

But, does this approach work? 

And, what are the benefits of it? 

In this one hour OT CEU course we will discuss a scoping review that explores these questions. As we’ll see, strengths-based interventions were related to:

After reviewing the article, we’re delighted to welcome to the podcast the article’s lead author, Kavitha Murthi, MS (OT), OTR, FHEA (UK). Her and I will discuss the practical i...

Where does OT fit in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) care? 

In this one hour course we’ll dive into a comprehensive guideline for psoriatic arthritis treatment, which recommends patients utilize a mix of non-pharmacological tools, like occupational therapy. 

This article will help you brush up on psoriatic arthritis, see OT within a holistic approach to care, and appreciate the importance of individualized care (which we are so skilled in providing). 

After we review the article, we’ll be joined by  Duana Russell-Thomas, OTD, OTR/L, to discuss her innovative approach to arthritis care through a self-m...

What does planetary health have to do with occupational therapy? 

The author’s of this week’s article argue that engagement with environmental sustainability is foundational for our profession. 

The authors aim to help OT students and professionals translate environmental awareness to practical action. They theorize 3 skills to do so: 

To help us unpack this, we are excited to welcome to the podcast Moses Ikiugu, PhD, OTR/L, FAOT.  Dr. Ikiugu has been a pioneer in connecting OT practice to global health. He’ll share how his own query into t...

Is AI going to replace occupational therapy?

There’s no doubt that this technology will transform healthcare. It will surely accelerate the existing move toward healthcare taking place at home. 

To help us wrap our minds around this transformation, we review an article that explores three technologies:

The article explores how the above technologies are being used in chronic disease management. The authors also introduce a patient-centered management framework based on AI. They close out the article by discussing the potential shortcomings of this new paradigm. 

After we review the...

Spasticity can be present in many of the conditions we treat as occupational therapy professionals. 

And, it can add significant cost and burden for our patients. 

The article we are discussing in this 1-hour course gives you a big picture overview of the science behind what we know (and don’t know!) about spasticity. 

You’ll find certain approaches (that I’ve personally used!) that have NOT been supported by the research—but also which modalities have a growing body of evidence behind them. 

After reviewing the research, we’ll be joined on the...

The research we are discussing on this 1-hour episode really drives home the complex connection between depression and 3 neurodegenerative diseases: 

Even though depression has a high comorbidity with all of these diseases, you’ll learn why it should not be an assumed part of the disease process. Instead, depression should be recognized as distinct and treated. 

But, here’ where it gets super complex:

In some cases the medications traditionally used to help treat depression do not work for this population—and can be actively harmful. So, OT appro...

Plagiocephaly has historically been thought of as a benign, cosmetic issue. 

But, the seminal study we are looking at during this 1-hour course indicates that severe to moderate skull deformity may be best understood as a biomarker for developmental vulnerability. As we’ll see, moderate to severe skull deformity was linked with lower cognitive and academic outcomes, when the children reached school age. 

It is critical to understand that this does not mean that plagiocephaly causes developmental delay. But, given the results of this study, developmental assessment, monitoring, and intervention is recommended for chil...

About half of cancer survivors report difficulty with ADLs and a third difficulty with iADLs.

But, unfortunately, only around 1 in 10 older adults with cancer who have a known functional limitation receive a referral to OT or PT.

Even less make it to an eval.

And, even less than that, complete their full course of rehab.

Why are we failing to support such a large percentage of this population?  And, what is the best way to support them when they do make it to us for occupational therapy?

H...

The research we’ve explored on the podcast, seems to be pointing to a new reality: 

The future of healthcare will be in the home. 

But, how will we get there? How will our homes ever be ready to age in place?

The transition is going to be a complex story of the right technologies, the right funding, and the right narratives. All of which will ultimately lead to the end goal of tech adoption. 

The article we will explore in this 1-hour course focuses on smart home technology adoption. It showc...

As occupational therapy providers, we have a duty to truly understand the word “occupation.” 

This means acknowledging the role occupation has played in shaping societal policies and norms, many of which are fundamentally unjust.

We also need to admit that our professional knowledge base, itself, is skewed.

The foundations of OT have evolved from an exclusionary context that privileged White skin, as well as other false social hierarchies. So much of what we learn, teach, and practice as OTs comes from a lens of being able to accumulate social, economic, and political power.

...

The article we are looking at today challenges us to look critically at occupation—and how it can be used as a tool for justice or injustice. 

The reality is that many of us have narrowed our view of occupation into the medicalized and individualized categories of ADLs. 

But, we know from research (and lived experience!) that occupation is much more complex, interconnected, and powerful.

The authors outline for us how occupation has played a role in systemic racism in the US. This history and present must be understood and confronted if we are...

It’s no secret that our healthcare systems are built to react to sickness and health events—not to keep people healthy in the first place. 

If we want to get serious about producing health for our patients, we have to start shifting our healthcare system to address social determinants of health.  

But, how is such a seismic shift even possible—and what’s your role as an occupational therapy practitioner in this new era?

In this one hour course, we will look at a journal article with a proposal for mobilizing...

Both participation-focused OT and knowledge translation are hot topics in OT right now. 

And, in this one-hour course we will explore a research article that puts forth a knowledge translation roadmap to accelerate the uptake of participation-focused OT assessments and intervention. 

These are both big topics in their own right, and when you mesh them together it feels like more than one therapist can handle. 

Honestly, that’s the point: Both knowledge translation and participation-focused OT are a team sport. 

It’s going to take all of us to be both...

Children are not little adults.

Their brains are actively developing. Because of this neuroplasticity, one might assume they would more quickly and fully recover from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). 

This is not the case. 

A brain injury can have a more devastating impact on a child than a similar injury in a mature adult. (Brain Injury Association of America) 

This is what makes comprehensive, ongoing rehab for pediatric TBI so important. But, unfortunately, as we will see in our primary research, many children who experience TBI have substantial unmet rehab nee...

Falls are a complex problem. 

This makes preventing them a perfect target for our OT skillset. 

This week we are looking at an article that explores “the state of the science” on preventing falls in hospitalized patients. The authors walk us through:

While many of the interventions sound simple (like gripper socks and alarms), the article we review in this 1-hour course reminds us that nothing is simple in creating truly effective fall prevention initiat...

When we think of hand therapy, we tend to think of it as a practice area with an  abundance of research.

But, the mapping review of hand therapy interventions we examine this episode reminds us that there are also sizable gaps in the research—especially when it comes to more complex diagnoses. 

This means that when OTs are working with upper extremity conditions, we still need to pay careful attention to the other 2 pillars of evidence-based practice: the client values & developing our own skillset/clinical expertise. 

To talk about what this looks like in pr...

As OTs, we believe that creating a therapeutic alliance is one of the most powerful vehicles to change. 

But, we also know that there are many barriers that exist to building transformational relationships with our clients 

Telehealth can feel like another such barrier—but it doesn’t have to be!

The article we are looking at in this 1 hour podcast-based CE course is a qualitative study exploring the parent engagement and therapeutic alliance in teletherapy programs. The author’s intent was to begin building a conceptual model to inform improved practice. 

After dis...

From pregnancy to age 2 is arguably the most important developmental window of our lifetimes. 

This makes the work of OTs who work with this age incredibly important. And, for the rest of us, we should be using our professional knowledge to advocate for the proper support for families at this critically important window.

In this one hour podcast course, we are looking at a broad systematic review about OT motor inventions for children ages 0-5. 

The importance of this paper cuts across multiple practice areas, but we are going to use this paper as...

The use of sensory-based interventions (SBIs) and environmental modification are common OT treatments. 

But, what is the evidence behind these treatments? 

In this episode, we’ll look at an influential systematic review that explores that question. The authors lay out the evidence behind specific sensory techniques and environmental modifications for children with sensory integration (SI) differences. 

The authors explore and rate the levels of evidence of common treatments, like massage, weighted vests, sensory enrichment in preschools, and linear swinging.

After we review the article, we’ll welcome to the podcast our guest...

Whether or not you are personally a fan of virtually reality—all OTs should be following the developing research on this technology. 

In this episode, we’ll discuss an article where the authors explore the use of virtual reality (VR) systems that are built specifically for rehab versus general-use VR, like the Nintendo Wii and Xbox. 

The authors really focus on the active ingredients that seem to make VR-based rehab effective. And, they put forth the principles of neurorehab that underlie successful rehab. (They also specifically look at UE motor recovery after stroke, so this all fe...

It is so easy to get caught in the minutiae of our daily work. 

And, sometimes it is incredibly helpful to zoom out and take a big picture look at the incredible changes we have seen in healthcare over the past decades. 

The journal article we are looking at this week gives us a bird’s-eye view of the past, present, and future of managing rheumatic and musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases. 

In the article you’ll find the same trends that we see in occupational therapy-specific research: a focus on self-management, patient reported outcome measure...

We need some of our OTs with the biggest hearts and brightest minds to consider specializing in burn therapy.

But, no matter what setting you work in, you will likely have someone with a burn patient on your caseload at some point. Burns are the 4th most common type of trauma worldwide (behind traffic accidents, falls, and interpersonal violence.) 90% of burns occur in low- to middle-income countries.

While OTs have worked in burn units for decades, the research behind OT-specific contributions to burn care is still in its infancy. We’ll see this at the be...

Helping people change their habits to change their health is one of the main mechanisms that makes OT effective. 

But, I don’t think we spend enough time thinking about how HARD it is to change our habits. 

The article we are looking at today focuses on changing lifestyle habits for adults at high risk of a cardiovascular incident, like a stroke. The author’s aim is to conceptualize how engaging occupations can be used to facilitate health promoting habits.

We’ll use this article as a jumping off point to discuss both habit fo...

Constraint-induced Movement Therapy has the reputation for being an intervention that is only for specialized OTs in some far-away speciality clinic. 

But, trust me: no matter what population you work with, OTs should be following this research. 

Today, on the podcast we are looking at a Cochrane review of all the evidence that undergirds this treatment. CIMT is perhaps the most-studied OT intervention—and it has lessons to teach us all  about: neuroplasticity, intensity, and the future of OT 🙂 

After reviewing the article, we are excited to welcome to the podcast Catherine Hoyt, PhD, OTD...

The change from “caseload” to “workload” may not seem that dramatic, but make no mistake it is a quiet revolution that is happening in school-based OT. 

It fundamentally shifts how we deliver care. 

The article we are discussing on the podcast encourages a  shifting away from an individualist, medical model “caseload” based approach. And, encourages us to embrace a “workload” approach, which hypothetically yields opportunities to focus more on population health. 

This shift has been underway for a while now, and the research we are looking at gives us an update on how this change is playi...

Many of us were not taught about the economics of OT in occupational therapy school. And, part of that reason is that the research base on the economic value of our work is just emerging. 

In this episode we will look at an article on the economic effects of OT in the acute and subacute setting. 

The good news in this article is that there is a growing amount of research about the economic value of OT—and the initial research is promising. 

The problem is that the existing research is widely varied and t...

The research we are reviewing in this course showcases how far we’ve come in the prevention, early detection, and treatment of cerebral palsy (CP) in children. The authors also explore the strength of the evidence behind 182 interventions for CP, organizing them into an “evidence traffic light.”

This is an important paper for all OTs to read—not just because CP is one of the most common physical disabilities we see on our caseloads, but because the paper is so well written. The authors do a fantastic job of highlighting the general trends behind what works, what doesn’t...

The term cultural competence can feel too soft and narrow to really push our profession towards equity and justice. 

But, the article we are reviewing today from the top 100 OT-related articles, brings up several essential points for discussion. 

The mention of OT in the article is grim. The article highlights “culturally blind” attitudes of OTs that failed to change after cultural competence training. 

This is a stark reminder of the need for change—and the multi-layered work needed to make change happen. Ultimately, the article attempts to put forth an understanding of cultural competenc...

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) weaves together multiple concepts that OTs are already familiar with and often use in practice. On a personal level, it provides helpful tools we can utilize as we navigate complex situations in our work. 

But, not only is it personally helpful, the research we’re looking at today shows us why we need to be aware of it as a therapy professional: 

Research supports the use of ACT in addressing chronic pain. 

In the research study we’ll explore in this podcast episode, you’ll find that OTs were part...

This prestigious guideline on Parkinson’s Disease (PD) treatment, that we’ll be covering in this podcast episode, recommends that rehab therapies are started at the time of diagnosis and continued throughout the disease course. 

This article will update you on key information about the PD disease process, the pervasiveness of non-motor symptoms, and the effectiveness of different treatments. 

The knowledge we are gaining about PD should definitely be impacting your sessions. (Hint: please be talking about exercise!) It should also be pushing us to consider new care models for our patients with chronic conditions. To dis...

How we understand our role as occupational therapy practitioners makes a huge difference in how we show up for our clients. 

But, unfortunately, some theories of OT practice fail to aid us in practical clinical reasoning that focuses on occupation. 

Luckily, the theories of OT practice that are emerging are getting closer to capturing the care we aspire to deliver—and provide more useful frameworks to guide our clinical reasoning. 

Today we will dive into the CORE Approach. The approach is a mechanism for OTs to understand their practice from an inclusive, occupation-centric lens...

Our spinal cord injury clients stay in our hearts and minds. After all, we help them and their families navigate tremendous life changes.

This week’s article gives us a solid big-picture review of what we know (and don’t  know) about spinal cord injury rehab. You’ll learn about commonly used assessments, as well as which treatments are gaining traction (and which ones aren’t.)

And, most importantly, this article serves as a good reminder that there are simply no magical, straightforward answers in this area of rehab. Instead, these patients benefit most from your occu...

In this 1 hour course, we will be diving into an incredibly helpful journal article that summarizes the evidence behind pediatric OT interventions. 

The authors take 52 pediatric OT interventions for children with disabilities and rate the evidence behind them. 

They organize the evidence into a traffic light infographic—where green means “the evidence supports this intervention.” 

This alone makes the evidence ratings super easy to scan and more accessible for therapists  (and families and policy makers)! Then, they even go so far as to draw out common principles between green light interventions. 

To discuss...

Spending time in research can deliver the humbling, but needed, reminder that not all therapy leads to clear value for our clients. 

For example, in the United States, we can now see that in the 2010s therapy was being delivered in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs)—beyond what was helpful for clients. 

Part of the problem was the fee-for-service payment model that incentivized skilled nursing facilities to deliver high quantities of therapy minutes to as many patients as possible. (More therapy equaled more money.) 

The research article that we will explore in this one hour...

It can feel like everyone is discussing the benefits of mindfulness.

Yet, with all this fanfare, we must ask: does the evidence justify incorporating mindfulness into occupational therapy? 

The systematic review we will look at in this one hour course says, “YES!” (At least for specific chronic pain conditions.)

The authors provide a great overview of the problem of pain—and they also discuss various mindfulness-based interventions for chronic pain, including the research behind them.

After we review the article, it is our pleasure to welcome Patricia Motus, OTR/L, RYT-200 to join...

Research is backing up what many of us are experiencing in our communities: the pandemic is exacerbating mental health issues. 

And, one can imagine how this would be true for new mothers—so many families’ birth experiences have been drastically impacted by COVID protocols, followed by increased isolation once the family arrives home.

The article we will be discussing in this one-hour podcast course is a call to action to support the positive mental health of new mothers, particularly during this pandemic. 

Whether you approach this topic as a pediatric OT, an OT who sp...

In this one hour episode of the OT Potential podcast, you will be introduced to the Kawa model and how it can be used to foster collaboration for a rehab team.  

The Kawa Model uses the metaphor of a river to depict one’s life journey. In this mental model, occupational therapists enable, restore, and/or maximize their client’s life flow. 

The model can be used with individual clients and groups. And, we’ll begin our episode by looking at research that explores how an acute care therapy team used the model to openly discuss...